Hockey

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Devils' win shows they're ready to rock

By: Tom Canavan

16/04/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

NEWARK, N.J. -- Brent Sutter and the New Jersey Devils have been saying for the past week that their late-season swoon wasn't going to be another prelude to an early exit from the playoffs.

If the first game of the post-season was an indication, the Devils will hang around for a while this spring.

Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner each had a goal and an assist and the Devils dominated from start to finish with a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in the opening game of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series Wednesday night.

"It's step one," Parise said. "It's going to be a long series. You've got the start somewhere and the effort was there from everybody. It was a good way for us to start."

Last year, the Devils went 4-5-1 down the stretch and were eliminated by the Rangers in five games in the opening round, losing all three games at home.

"Tonight was a good example of how we feel we are able to play," Martin Brodeur said after coming within roughly 11 minutes of tying Patrick Roy's record for career playoff shutouts.

"They'll adjust and try to do something different in Game 2 (Friday) but I liked the way we came out, the energy, and the crowd was great," the NHL's leader in career regular-season wins added. "Finally, we performed well in front of them. In the playoffs last year, they didn't have much to cheer about."

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 16, 2009 C3

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